Hear No Evil
by Pretty Blue Paper
Summary: Namine. She's quiet, nervous, always putting herself down and in a comepletely new environment. Maybe with the help of her friends, she can realize something important about herself.
1. We're All Just Party People

Ok, so as you can probably see, this is my first story on so for the first few chapters, I think I'm going to need your help. Please tell me if you would like the chapters to be shorter or longer. That would really help me a lot . Once you're done reading the chapter, tell me what you think of it, ok?

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Naminé's father squeezed her shoulder before she stepped through the door and took her place at the counter. For several hours she took orders and money, remembering to smile and thank the customer for their business. When she looked at the clock she saw that she'd worked overtime. In fact, she almost missed the beginning of her favorite show. After she finished serving her current customer she rang a bell. Some of the people in the cafe shot her a curious glance before going back to their food, conversations and computers.

Her father took over and she went into the back room, took off her paint splattered apron and grabbed her book bag. After emerging from the back room one more time, she walked out into the cafe and sat in front of a television. Using a remote from her backpack, she turned the television on and flipped to the newest episode of The Bachelor, her guilty pleasure. To some she looked, and acted as if she owned the place, the way she had one television set all to her self, and to some extent she did.

As they gave a recap of what happened in last week's show, Naminé pulled out her laptop and looked over tomorrow's schedule and menu for the umpteenth time. Everything was perfect.

Halfway through the show, the smell of freshly baked pastries and freshly brewed coffee wafted through the cafe. She looked over and saw that her father and Hayner, the part-time employee, adding fresh food to the display counters. Once the line of customers died down a bit, Hayner brought her several different scones and some tea.

"You're friend's late, Hayner. Not that I mind but I am getting kind of tired." Naminé said without taking her eyes off of the television screen.

"I know, but she just texted me and she says that she'll be here in less than ten minutes."

There was an almost awkward silence between them. As usual, Hayner was the one to break it. "She goes to our school."

Naminé's head snapped up and she let out a shaky breath. "Is she nice?"

Hayner smiled warmly and had a slightly far away look on his face before nodding. He gathered the dirty dishes and his arms were covered in soap by the time Olette ran in.

"I'm really sorry about being so late," Olette apologized as she set her stuff down. Naminé nodded and bit into her last scone.

"So are there any final touches that need to be addressed?"

Naminé shook her head and pulled out the work schedule for the next day. She handed it to Olette and discreetly turned her attention back to the television.

"So if there are any changes to the schedule, I can call you right?"

"Of course. I'll have my phone on me the whole day tomorrow."

Olette got up and shook Naminé's hand, as they'd done many times before, and walked away. After she finished watching her show, she shut the TV off and began to help her father and Hayner lock up. They stacked chairs, moved tables and cleaned the machines and floors. By the time they finished it was nearing 11:30. The two teens yawned as they sat in the last two unstacked chairs.

"As you both know, tomorrow's going to be a long day... so go home and get some rest. I'll leave the speeches for tomorrow morning. Be here at seven-thirty sharp," Naminé's father instructed before unlocking the door to let Hayner out.

"Naminé, I'm going to drop Hayner off at his house, you'll be ok right?"

The blond girl nodded and walked into the backroom. She could feel her eyes growing heavy and for a moment she wondered if her father would mind her sleeping on the couch at the far end of the room. Deciding against it, she walked towards another door and got a key from her pocket.

After opening the door and locking it behind her, she trudged up a narrow spiral staircase and ended up in her living room. Even in the dark she knew where every thing was. To the left of her was an orange couch that faced an entertainment system and a glass coffee table in between. To the right, was the ever so rarely used kitchen with granite counter tops and wooden drawers. There was also a hallway that led to her father's studio and bedroom.

Her mind was fuzzy with sleep and she wanted to get to her bedroom. All she had to do was take a couple of more steps forward and she was home free. Though her legs felt as if they were nailed to the hardwood floors, she made it. She fell forward, onto her bed and was in deep sleep once she hit the mattress. Morning came too quickly for her and she felt incredibly tired. She looked up to see that her father was trying to shake her awake.

"I'm up, I'm up daddy," she yawned. Her father had been nice enough to pull the covers from her as she tried to salvage five more minutes of sleep.

"Naminé," he began using his deep father voice before he lost his composure and acted like a sixteen year-old on sugar. "Come on sleepyhead, we've got a birthday party to work on!"

She groaned and headed to the shower. As she stood half-awake, she could hear Hayner and her father already working on food downstairs. She put on a white tank top and white shorts before running downstairs. Once inside the cafe, she saw that Hayner was already hard at work, moving tables, cleaning plates and cooking food. She smiled at him and checked the schedule, the food and her phone. After seeing that every thing was in check, she began helping Hayner with the dishes. No words were exchanged between the two and Naminé was thankful that Hayner wasn't the type of person to engage a conversation. At least not with her.

To a certain point, she enjoyed the silence. In it she found safety. It was peaceful in a word. Hayner, on the other hand, hated the silence. Silence was the sound of no fun or joy or life. It literally hurt his ears to hear the sound of silence. He was just dying to talk to the blond beside him but he knew that she would either give him short, choppy answers to his questions or none at all. She'd been like that ever since she started working there a couple of weeks ago. With nothing else to do, he turned his thoughts to the party later that day.

He grinned to himself as he thought of how surprised his friend, Roxas, would be when he walked into The Art Deco Cafe to find all of his friends wishing him a Happy Birthday. Hayner gave himself a mental pat on the back. He'd been working here for six months which was by far the longest he'd ever held a position before. He added a mental high-five to that pat on the back and went back to washing dishes with a smile on his face. He was in such a state of happiness that he barely heard the girl beside him speak.

"It's lunch time."

"Huh?"

"It's time for lunch, Hayner." She had on a sort of nervous smile and refused to look him in the eyes. She unstacked a chair for him and went back to washing and drying dishes.

"Hey Naminé, why don't you have lunch with me?"

It looked as if it hurt her to answer. Her eyes darted here and there, avoiding his face but in the end she nodded, went to the back room to get her food and came back to sit next to him. He'd already unstacked a chair by the time she returned and she timidly sat down next to him. Her heartbeat raced when she noticed he was staring at her. _Think, think, think. He's clearly staring at you... so why don't you just calmly ask why?_ She rolled the thought around in her head and tried to see if she could approach the situation any other way. After realizing that there was no other way to deal with this she asked him.

"Um, why are you staring at me?" she said as her eyes darted from the clock to the hardwood flooring to the red wall behind him.

He laughed and heat rose to her face. "I was actually a little jealous of you."

She shot him a quizzical glance before looking at what he had for lunch. He had a sandwich, an orange and a bottle of water. She, on the other hand, had pasta, Jell-O, fruit roll-ups and a juice box. She nodded and pushed her lunch towards him.

"I can't eat your lunch Naminé. It's for you, but that doesn't mean that I wouldn't mind tasting the pasta. Can I?"

She nodded and watched as he tried to shake some noodles onto his sandwich. After watching him struggle for a little while, she grabbed the Tupperware and used her fork to gather an generous amount of spaghetti for him. Naminé opened her mouth to say something but ended up biting her lip.

"No, tell me what you were going to say," Hayner said after grabbing several stringy noodles.

Naminé shifted in her seat and looked down as she answered. "I was just wondering what your school is like." In reality, Naminé wanted to know what Hayner's friends were like. Part of her wanted to be friends with Hayner and friends with his friends but the other part told her and kept reminding her that she shouldn't act like a leech and have the same friends as Hayner. It was selfish of her to even think that she could take Hayner's friends. At least this way, she would have an idea of what to expect tomorrow without imposing.

He shrugged and began explaining the inner workings of Traverse High. After a couple of minutes she realized that her new high school and her old one were pretty much the same. Friends stayed with the same bunch of friends, everyone hated the principle, and there was that one teacher who couldn't teach and the other one who could jam three lessons in a day. Her insides squirmed at how similar the two schools were. It probably would have been easier to have counted the differences.

By the time Hayner had finished ranting about the lazy faculty Naminé realized exactly how long their lunch break had been. By then, her father finished setting tables, removed food from ovens, and got the drinks and cake. All that was left for him to do was to get dressed.

She gasped and ran off to finish her job or what was left of it. Once she realized that her father had done nearly everything tears began to pool in her eyes. _She_ was the one who was supposed to have everything under control. _He_ was just supposed to supervise. A knot formed in her throat and words crisscrossed in her brain and stained it black. She clutched her head and shut her eyes. Knowing that her father was standing right in front of her she felt no need to scream the words that wanted to free themselves from her mind. Her voice was barely a whisper as she spoke.

"Why do you make me feel so worthless?"

"You know that wasn't my intention, sweetheart. I just saw how much fun you were having talking to Hayner and I didn't want to interrupt." He said, just as soft.

She shrugged and walked up the spiral staircase, feeling hollow. Ghosting through the house, she found herself getting dressed and putting on make up robotically. After doing her hair and applying a clear coat of nail polish to her nails she emerged from her room. Her hair was brushed perfectly and there wasn't a wrinkle in her white button up shirt and knee-length shorts. Her blue tie was knotted correctly and her black Mary-Janes were polished. To an outsider she looked like a cute schoolgirl or waitress. Despite her appearance Naminé wasn't satisfied with herself.

When she stepped out of her room, her phone rang. She answered it and quickly spoke to Olette about the guests that were already arriving. As she spoke to the brunette on the other line she carefully went downstairs and opened the café doors. She took her place at the entrance as the hostess. A smiled formed on her face when she realized that everyone who was invited came, and they came on time which was surprising and lucky. This meant that her job as hostess was done for the night and she could go back to working in the kitchen where no one could see her. It was where she belonged after all; she didn't mind, not one bit. Hayner left a little while ago to get the birthday boy so as Naminé set the hors d'oervs on the serving trays, her father was entertaining the masses; probably with his fantastic skill of juggling or impersonations. She chuckled to herself and lined up the trays. Outside of the kitchen people were being shushed and all sounds of movement stopped. Quickly she moved from the kitchen to the cafe and knelt behind the counter. The front doors opened and closed.

"Hayner, what is this?" It was presumably the birthday boy. Moments after, everyone jumped up from their hiding places. People walked out from behind their hiding places to give the boy a hug and/or ruffle his hair. Naminé and her father went back inside the kitchen and began serving finger foods to the guests.

Her father placed the rest of the appetizers in chafing dishes to keep warm and flashed her a smile of approval. The party was going well; the teens were dancing to an amazing DJ and the adults were trying their best to have a conversation with one another. Pride began to build up from within her. This was _her_ party. She planned it and it happened and it wasn't half bad. She smiled.

Seeing as she was running out of food, she began to make her way to the back room to restock and nibble on what was left. She moved along the outside of the dance floor and was almost there before someone knocked the serving tray upward, sending the sauces and dips into her face and her onto her butt.

She moved the tray from her face and looked interrupted a small group of dancing teenagers with the noise she made. One of them in particular was more surprised than the others. He was spiky haired brunette who was looking down at her with his arms stretched outwards and a shocked expression on his face. Immediately he knelt down and picked the mini eggrolls off of the floor and out of her hair. Naminé, getting over her initial shock and embarrassment, moved from being on her butt to being on her knees and wiped up the sauces with napkins from her back pocket. Embarrassment boiled within her, staining her face red. She scolded herself for getting too close to the dance floor.

"Dumb bitch," Naminé whispered to herself. The boy in front of her moved back as if she'd hit him. His face looked hurt but he shook it off and continued to help her. Once they finished she went to the back room and sat on the floor with her head in her hands. Tears threatened to fall and they squeezed in between Naminé's eyelashes. That was as far they fell because her father hugged her before the tears even had a chance. Before she knew it Hayner was hugging her and thanking her for planning the party. When she moved away from Hayner she looked at him, then at her father and back before she began to giggle. Their clothes were now covered in honey mustard, teriyaki sauce and blue cheese dressing but they didn't seem to mind it.

They smiled and led Naminé outside where she was met with applause. She waved sheepishly and tried to sneak back into the staff room but Hayner and her father were blocking the way. She was unwillingly pulled out onto the dance floor and was surrounded by the other dancing teenagers. Her face went from paper white and arctic cool to fire truck red and surface-of-the-sun hot in three seconds. If there was one thing Naminé couldn't do it was dance. Her insides squirmed with uncertainty. Did the people really want her to dance? To enjoy the party with them?

Her body swayed to the rhythm and she bobbed her head. It wasn't much but it was a start. She smiled to herself when she successfully ninja-ed away from the dance floor. Her legs hurt from standing all day and all she wanted right then and there was sleep. She decided to crash on the couch in the staffroom.

She settled onto the beige cushions and sighed. Despite the noise outside she fell asleep quite easily. When she woke up it was quiet and as usual, her father was shaking her awake

"Daddy?" She wondered sleepily. As sleep pulled her back she wondered how the rest of the party went.

"How did the party go?" she asked as she adjusted her position on the couch so that she would be more comfortable. He chuckled and lifted her up in his arms.

"Come on sweetheart, let's get you to sleep. You planned such a wonderful party today. I'm so incredibly proud of you and..." The hum of her father's voice sent her conscious sailing into the deep waters of sleep.

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So there it is! The first chapter of my first fanfiction. What you you guys think? Hate it? Love it? Want to gouge out my eyeballs and cut off my hands for writing it? Leave me feedback.


	2. Ad Astra and Art

Well here we go... Enjoy~

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When Naminé was woken up by her father she felt like punching him in the face. Of course she would never do such a thing but it's the thought that counts. Right? Her legs ached her head felt heavy. Not just from the party, but from the apprehensive, first day of school feeling. If her father hadn't lifted her out of bed, she never would have left. After her father swung her around a couple of times and let her down, she zombie walked to the bathroom and showered. Even after her shower, she still felt as active as a corpse.

After grabbing her messenger bag she trudged through the living room, down the spiral stairs and through the cafe before her father stopped her. He said something about Hayner before handing her a lunch box, a cup of coffee and her roller blades. She took a gulp of coffee and walked out of The Art Deco Cafe and into a huge and empty mall.

She walked down stairs and greeted the people who were opening up their stores and sending their own children to school. It was strange living in Castle Oblivion seeing as it was so huge but eventually, Naminé got used to it. After seeing it as a huge and somewhat gated community, she began to like living there. The only downside to living and working in the Castle Oblivion mall was that it was way too big. To go from top to bottom by stairs it would take Naminé a good two hours and that's if she only spent about five minutes per floor. Luckily for her, she was only on the fifth floor so she didn't mind walking.

When she got downstairs she had the round-the-clock security guard open the door for her seeing as the mall wasn't supposed to be open until an hour and a half later. She saw Hayner walk towards her with a skateboard in hand. She slipped on her blades and skated over to him.

"Ready?" he asked once she was next to him. She nodded and gave him an uneasy smile. After minutes of skating in silence Hayner spoke up.

"Why don't we skip school today?"

Naminé's eyes widened in shock. "Skip?" She squeaked.

He nodded and kept riding to school. "What if we go half of the day? You know, to test the waters."

Naminé let out a small nod of approval. She was still a little sleepy and she didn't know if she could put up with a whole day of looking for classes, learning names, getting sheets signed and schedules approved. She just wanted to see how people walked and talked in this new school of hers before she dove into schoolwork. For a moment, she wondered how her father would take the news that his daughter was playing hooky. It made her nervous to think of his reaction but once she saw the huge grey and red building coming into view, her decision was made.

"Ok, that sounds like a good idea."

They rolled into the school parking lot and up to the school steps before Naminé stopped at the entrance. She felt as if she would blow chunks. It was as if her breath was as scared to leave her throat.

"Naminé! Calm down, I promise that my friends don't bite."

_Wait. What? _She stopped hyperventilating and looked at him trying to figure out if he meant it or not_._

For once, Hayner looked nervous. "Well I mean, if you want to hang out with my friends. It's not like you have to. You probably want to make new friends anyway."

Naminé shrugged and pushed the brown doors open. Hayner gave her a quick pre-school tour and showed her where things were, including the location of his classrooms, just in case she needed his help. They were done after twenty minutes and went outside to meet some Hayner's friends who'd just arrived. As they neared the group of teens sitting on and around a bench, Naminé's pace slowed and she tried to hide behind Hayner.

"Hey Hayner!" They called. There was one guy and two girls. One of the girls who was laughing and smiling was Olette. Her shoulder length brown hair moved as a cold wind blew through it. The redhead standing next to Olette giggled and wrapped her arms around herself. The only boy blew on his hands to keep warm.

"Naminé, you already know Olette. The boy is Pence, and the girl is Kairi." Hayner said as he shoved her towards them.

"Hey, great party yesterday!" Pence said once he saw the nervous look on her face. Aside from the school pullover he wore a Polaroid camera around his neck and a blue sweatband to keep his dark hair out of his brown eyes.

"It was so much fun!" Kairi added as she moved her body in a way that could have been considered dancing. Naminé pursed her lips so she wouldn't laugh at the redhead who was making a fool of herself. Her friends just smiled and laughed while Naminé watched in silent awe and confusion. They didn't reprimand her for acting so weird or scold her for being loud, if anything, their laughter encouraged Kairi to dance more.

After Kairi finished dancing, they launched into an animated conversation. There were, of course, many different instances where Naminé could have jumped in, but she was too busy thinking about the day ahead of her.

"Kairi!" A voice in the distance yelled, causing the conversation about mimes to stop.

"Hayner, Pence, Olette!," a second voice yelled. Kairi got up from beside Naminé and went to go greet the owners of the voices and the rest of the group followed. Naminé stood up and debated on what to do next.

_On one hand, I can go to class, seeing as there's a minute before the bell rings. On the other hand, maybe they want to talk to me. Though, I think I would probably like to talk to these people more than they would want to talk to me... I just have to take the initiative..._

A smile worked it's way onto her face and butterflies burst from the cocoons in her stomach. She knew exactly what her plan of attack would be. She would march right up to the two people and introduce herself with a smile. She took a step forward and a voice echoed in her head.

_**Why would they want to meet someone like you?**_

Her smile cracked and the composure she'd tried so hard to keep slipped from her fingers and shattered. Slowly, she backed away quietly until she was sure that no one from the group could see her running. Once she was near her first period classroom she sent Hayner a text to let him know that she wasn't going to cut class anymore. Her insides were numb. The butterflies died and the dim fire in her eyes disappeared completely.

Naminé decided to concentrate on the little things as she moved from the door to her chemistry teacher's desk to the seat she chose in the back. Her breathing, the sound her flats made against the light blue tile, the creaking sound her seat made when she sat into it. Anything at all to keep the voices out of her head. Once the sound stopped she focused on her book bag and wondered what she was thinking when she decided to decorate it.

Paint was smeared and splattered all over it so that you wouldn't be able to tell what the original color was. If that wasn't enough she stitched and glued random stuff onto it. There were still buttons sewn onto it but the pins she added long ago were gone by now. She was told that her book bag looked like an art supply store threw up on it and that it made _her_ look like she was a stupid five year old. After all, they were right.

She took a deep breath and successfully shook the voices out of her head. They. Were. _**Wrong**_. She kept repeating that in her head and she loosened up a bit.

The teacher did what teachers do and called role, gave assignments and gave lectures but by the time Naminé got her notebook out of her backpack the bell rang. Her expression was one of shock and confusion but she packed her bag and began to walk out of the classroom.

As she moved through the crowded hallways she kept her eyes on her class list on her way to homeroom. Her itinerary consisted of Chemistry, Algebra 2, AP European History, lunch, Elective 1, Elective 2 , English, P.E, and finally Career Research. She bit her lip as she slid into an empty seat.

Her eyes stayed on her paper and she wondered what her two electives were. The only thing she knew about the classes were the room number and how long she had each class. She spent such a long time wondering about the two classes that homeroom flew by. Her head shot up and she looked up at the clock. She raised an eyebrow and slowly picked up her stuff to go to her Algebra 2 Class. Once again she was thrown into the swarm of students but this time someone grabbed her arm and spun her around.

She shut her eyes and kept her head down.

"It's, um, Naminé right?"

Slowly, she opened her eyes and saw a spiky-headed brunette looking at her with an uneasy expression. She closed her eyes as she tried to remember from where she'd seen this guy from. It dawned on her and she quickly looked down.

"I'm really sorry for bumping into you at the party," She began before looking up and lightly hitting her head. "I'm such an idiot sometimes."

The boy laughed and she blushed a bit and looked down. "I would say no problem but seeing as it was my fault I can't do that. Hayner told me to tell you that he forgot to tell you that today is an early release day." He said as he walked forward and moved his hands while he spoke. Once he finished he grabbed her arm and dragged her to the direction opposite to where her math class was. She nearly asked him why but he began to speak again. "He also forgot to tell you that this school goes by a block schedule and that today is an Odd day."

She inhaled deeply and asked him a question. "So instead of second period, I'd go to third right?"

The boy nodded, "Exactly. My name is Sora by the way."

"Thank you so much Sora. I really appreciate it"

He pulled open the classroom door and bowed. "It's no trouble at all, m'lady"

By the end of the class Naminé was no longer Naminé Nakahara, ordinary and unimportant teenager. She was Joan of Arc, Maid of Orleans or at least she was every third period. That made her feel as if she was floating to her second elective.

When she stepped through the door her eyes widened and her jaw dropped in shock. For a split second she thought that she'd somehow walked out of school and into the first steps of space. A small wave of vertigo hit her as she stared into the dark rounded ceiling. It was currently decorated with tiny white pinpricks of light.

Naminé tore her eyes away from the celestial ceiling and looked around the dark room. Right now she was at the highest point in the room and she could see the silhouettes of students moving down below. She was about to take a step down the stairs in front of her when something caught her eye. Slowly she turned her head and looked at two floating circles of light near a huge machine. She was about to scream but she quickly covered her mouth.

The two circles laughed, "I always scare the new kids. Class is about to start, so if you will, take your seat and then we can get this show on the road."

Naminé nodded and stumbled down the stairs and to a seat down below. From her seat she could hear her professor clearing his throat. His voice resonated throughout the room.

"Welcome one and welcome all to another wonderful class period of astronomy! For those of you who don't know and for those who don't remember, my name is Mr. Bruknnec and...I- I am your father. Ha! JKJK! I'm just your kickass Astronomy teacher. So let's learn about space shall we? Ad astra and all!"

The class responded with a round of laughs and giggles. Naminé cracked a smile and relaxed a bit. As the class went on she felt a strange feeling of amusement and bewilderment. Mr. Bruknnec was a great teacher. He knew enough about what he was talking about to make it fun and easy to learn. Within the class period she knew the sun's composition of elements, its diameter, how long it takes for its light to reach Earth and even the cultures that worshiped the sun.

Even though it was fun and educational, Naminé couldn't help but wonder how Mr. Bruknnec felt about his fifth period class. How was it that he could stand students calling him out of his name? How could he stand the interruptions? The laughing, the giggling, the talking, the snoring? She felt a little angry for him. After all, he was the one in charge and everyone else should respect that. If not for that, they should at least respect those who actually want to learn. Right?

The thought followed her to her next and last class of the day but when she reached the double doors leading to the gym, all she could think about was how nervous she was. She took a deep breath and pushed open the doors. A blast of cool air blew her blond hair behind her and the cold sunk into her skin, causing goosebumps to rise, despite the fact that she was wearing a sweater. The P.E. teacher was smiling and talking to her class by the time Naminé got there. She felt a little uneasy. Had she been late? The teacher turned towards her. The teacher's face was angry and her hands were in fists at her hips.

Naminé paled. She'd done something wrong. Everyone in the class turned in her direction and she was lost in a sea of eyes. Her stomach knotted up and she wondered what they were thinking. She'd give _anything _to know what they were thinking. The teacher called her to the front of the class and put her hands on Naminé's shoulders. After turning the blond towards the class she said the words that Naminé feared the most.

"Why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself, sweetheart?"

Naminé bit her lip and thought about it. She was about to say "I like to…" or "I enjoy…" but the more she wondered what to say the more she realized that she had nothing worth mentioning. She had no talents or skills that she could share. Nothing worth mentioning. All she had was her old town and her old school.

"I, um, I used to go to Twilight Academy for the Intellectually Gifted in Twilight Town."

Once the words left her mouth the class she immediately regretted it because the whole class launched into an animated discussion about her old private school. They tried to drag her into what she was saying but because there were so many people talking at once that she could get by without answering them under the guise of confusion. After about six minutes of the class talking about great schools, the Phys. Ed. teacher regained control of the situation.

"Ok class, now that we've all met Naminé, let's get down to business."

Naminé took this as her cue to take a seat on the bleachers so she walked over and sat down. Unlike her astronomy class, the seating arrangements were a little tight to say the least. She ended up sitting on the very edge of the bleachers next to a blond boy.

"Now as you know, we just finished our unit on basketball so now we are on to soccer. So change out right now and meet back here in ten minutes."

Naminé bit her lip. She didn't have a PE uniform or a locker. She didn't even have a clue where the girls' locker room was. As the crowd of tenth and ninth graders shuffled to the changing rooms she stood to the side. It wasn't until people began coming back that the teacher remembered Naminé standing to one side of the bleachers.

"Oh! That's right! Follow me hun, I've got a uniform you can use for now and you can keep your bookbag in my office." She said leading the teenager to a door. "It's sitting on my desk for you and use my key to lock the room, ok? Meet us outside when you're done."

The young girl nodded and stepped inside of the room. It was a little messy and had a chlorine smell to it. There were papers and pens scattered across a desk and in the corners of the room lay different buckets and bins with equipment. On a pile of papers on the desk sat her grey and red PE uniform. After taking her jeans off, she grabbed the grey shorts. Once they were on, she wondered if they should really be that short. Only about six inches of her skin were covered by the shorts; the rest of her nasty, pasty white legs were exposed to the elements. She shoved her arms through the sleeves of the red shirt and she was ready to go.

She walked outside after locking the door and was happy to feel that it was no longer ice cold. Instead it was nice and balmy outside. The wind blew through her hair as she looked below to see kids running, laughing and screaming around the field. She walked over to where the instructor was and waited quietly for instructions. She stood there for a while and watched as the kids ran across the field. It wasn't until a teacher aide walked up to her P.E instructor and handed her a note did she notice Naminé standing like around awkwardly.

"Naminé, you were called to the office so just leave the uniform on my desk. The aid has the key."

She did as she was told and walked back to the gym with the T.A. and quickly changed back into her normal clothes before following him to the office. She muttered a word of thanks before stepping into the principals' office. She shifted nervously before stepping in.

It was a relatively plain room. The walls were a pale blue and there were several fake plants at the corners of the room. A somewhat rickety metal desk was standing between her and the principle who was looking through files that were presumably hers.

"So Naminé," She began. "I am Principle Ine and I'm incredibly happy that you're here, though I do wish it were under better circumstances."

"I- I do t-too, ma'am," Naminé stuttered before flinching. It was a motion that didn't go undetected by her principle.

"Naminé, it's ok to be nervous in a new school you know," she said smiling. "We promote healthy lifestyles here at Traverse High. Physical, mental and emotional. Which is why you'll talk to the school therapist every day for at least twenty minutes. In fact, here he is now." Principle Ine motioned towards the door.

A man who could have been in his mid twenties walked over to Naminé, smiled and shook her hand before introducing himself as Chad Sasaki.

"He'll be showing you where his office is but wait a second," said Principal Ine as she rummaged through her desk that looked as if it would fall apart any second. "Where did I put the the things for... Ah-ha! Here they are," she said as she stretched up to get a small cardboard box containing a P.E uniform, a P.E locker number and lock, a regular locker number and lock and last but not least, her student ID. She thanked the principle and walked behind the young man. He led her to a door that had the words 'Chad Sasaki, School Therapist' in big silver block lettering.

Inside, the walls were painted a burnt orange color that was surprisingly calming. A bookcase took up one wall, while framed pictures and letters lined another. Chad sat down in an red egg chair and motioned for Naminé to sit down on the worn leather sofa.

"So, is there anything you want to talk about?"

Naminé shrugged and looked down. She didn't like psychologists very much; it'd taken her months to get used to her old one.

"Well how about school?"

Naminé's eyes flickered upward. She sucked in a big gulp of air before asking her question. "Can you tell me what my other electives are?"

"Oh, no problem. Just hand me your schedule. You already had Astrology so your next elective is Art."

"What! No, no, no. I seriously can't do art at all. I don't even know why my dad signed me up for it. Is there any way I can switch my classes?"

Chad was clearly stunned by her sudden outburst but quickly gained composure. "So what makes you think that you won't do well in art?"

"That doesn't matter. What matters is that my schedule should be filled with more academic classes. You know? Something to actually fill my brain with stuff I can use in life!"

"I understand that you want to be successful in life but what's the point of all that success if you don't enjoy life. I've looked at your transcript and you're a wonderful student. I un-"

"No, my grades were pathetic last semester..."

He shifted around in his seat a little bit, crossing one leg over the other.

"Naminé, I want you to think-just humor me, ok?- think of reasons why art isn't for you and I'll give you reasons why it doesn't matter. Sound good?"

"Uh, sure. It's a complete waste of a high school credit."

"You need a type of art credit to graduate from here." To this she furrowed her eyebrows.

"I'll never be able to use art to help me or earn a living."

"There are actually many jobs that use art and creativity. You could be hired for commission, make concept drawings for various institutes or even work in law enforcement as a sketch artist."

"When I do draw, my drawings look like crap."

"So you admit it! You do draw, which is reason enough for you to be taking an art _class_."

Naminé stared at the man in front of her. What he said made perfect sense, no matter how much she hated it. When she looked at Chad he was staring back at her, as if expecting another reason from her. She opened her mouth to say something when he jumped, as if someone pricked him with a pin.

"I just remembered that I got something for you." He hopped out of his chair and went rummaging through the one of the bookcases in the room. From it he pulled out a medium-sized spiral notebook."

Consider this your therapy homework. Everyday before you come here, you have to make an entry of how you're feeling. It could be a written entry, a picture or even a song, but you have to let me know how it makes you feel and why, ok?"

Naminé was reluctant to take the notebook. Why would he care about how she felt? Granted, it was his job but the way he smiled, it felt as if he really cared. She gulped, her throat suddenly dry and took the book from him. Snapping it open, she took out a pen from her backpack and scribbled words down angrily.

_I should have skipped school today._


End file.
